MI D-N-R Moving Forward With U.P. Deer Movement Study

Marquette, MI – (Great Lakes Radio News) – The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is moving ahead with a program to capture and collar white-tailed deer in the western U.P. as part of a multi-year study.

Terry Minzey, DNR U.P. Regional Wildlife Supervisor, joined the SUNNY Morning Show with Walt & Mike today to talk about this study and it’s goals.

Minzey explained that the study is seeking to quantify movement patterns of deer to provide DNR wildlife managers with valuable information needed if chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is detected in the U.P.

He said CWD is an incurable, always fatal disease found in deer, moose, mule deer and elk that has not yet been documented in the Upper Peninsula

Minzey added, however, that managers found infected deer in two Wisconsin captive cervid facilities within 30 miles of the Michigan border, and that this type of preparation is appropriate.

For more information on deer in Michigan, visit the DNR’s webpage at: www.mi.gov/deer or for more on chronic wasting disease, visit www.mi.gov/cwd.